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Celebrating Radical Imagination at the Southern Artists for Social Change Gathering, February 2024

May 2, 2024  •  4 minute read

A stylized photograph of four Black women standing at a table and engaged in a brainstorming or team building activity. The background of the photo has a halftone treatment that separates it from the figures in the foreground. Each of the four women is outlined in a different color border. Starting from the left, the first woman has long straight black hair, and she is leaning over the table and looking to her left at the the third woman. She is dressed in black pants and shirt with a fitted black blazer, and wearing a black beret. She is outlined in purple. The next woman is wearing a white and red New York Mets baseball cap and blue denim jacket, and she has her head down and both hands placed on the table. She is outlined in green. The third woman wears glasses and has closely cropped hair, and she is extended her right hand as she explains something, while holding a bundle of white pens with blue caps in her left hand. She is wearing a v-cut blouse and a white jacket covered in large red, orange, and blue flowers and green leaves. She is outlined in blue. The fourth woman wears glasses and has her hair pulled back in a loose bun. She is wearing a loose fitting white long-sleeved shirt with a pocket that looks like a stylized recreation of the U.S. flag turned so that the blue section with stars is at the top and the stripes run vertically. There is a red band on the right sleeve near the wrist, and a blue band on the left sleeve near the wrist. She is looking down and arranging red pipe cleaners or strips of paper on the table. She is outlined in red.
From left: Nana Kumi (Cohort 4), Samesa Hoskin (Cohort 1), Keana Brewster, and Kerrigan Casey (Cohort 3).

“When I look around the room, this is what I imagine heaven will look like when I get there…”

–SA4SC Artist

Photograph of Tomas Montoya Gonzalez. A Latino man with closely cropped gray and black hair and wearing glasses leans forward from his chair as he speaks into a microphone that he's holding in his right hand. His left arm is propped on the back of a chair and he's gesturing with this left hand as he speaks. He is wearing a light blue plaid, long sleeve shirt, and a dark blue or black fleece collared vest.
Tomas Montoya Gonzalez (Cohort 4)
Photograph of Devonta Ravizee, a young Black man with a trim beard, who is standing and gesturing with his hands as he speaks. He is wearing a brown or dark orange baseball cap turned backwards, a light t-shirt that appears to be white or peach colored, and black pants. He has a gold watch on his right wrist.
Devonta Ravizee (Cohort 4)
Photograph of Simone Immanuel, a Black woman. She is standing at a table and pointing down at something with her left hand while she talks to a partially seen woman to her left. She is wearing a turquoise dress with a slit on the right leg, and a long, fitted black jacket that is closed at the top and then opens mid-chest and spreads out in an A-shape to reveal the dress underneath.
Simone Immanuel (Cohort 4)
Photograph of Jazzie Jelks, a Black woman. She is slightly bent over a table and holding a pen in her right hand as she looks up and smiles at someone unseen. Her hair is pulled back into a bun, and she is wearing a navy blue pantsuit and blazer, with a light blue blouse underneath. She is wearing a royal blue face mask that appears almost purple in contrast to her suit.
Jazzie Jelks (Cohort 4)

Text and photos by Daniel Pruksarnukul.

As NPN’s newest staff member, the Southern Artists for Social Change gathering in February was my first introduction to the artistic community that NPN supports.

Two men, Daniel Prusarnukul and Antonio Garza, smile for the camera with their shoulders pressed together, suggesting that they have their arms around each other as they pose. On the left, Daniel is wearing a red knit sweater hoodie with a large white band running across the chest that contains a repeating pattern of stylized llamas and shrubs in black. He has black hair that is mostly obscured by the hoodie. He is wearing square framed black glasses with lightly-tinted red lenses, and he has his right hand in the pocket of his pants. On the right, Antonio is wearing a loosely fitting coral pink shirt, over which he has an unbuttoned, deep blue, long sleeve button-down shirt. He is bald and has a closely trimmed light brown and white beard, and wears glasses.
From left: Daniel Prusarnukul and Antonio Garza (Cohort 4).

It was also the first time these 41 incredible artists were going to meet in person. And what happens when you gather 41 creative geniuses for 2 & ½ days who have a deep civic practice rooted in social change and whose work relies on radical imagination to create vibrant futures? Connections get made, inspiration abounds, and, at some point, someone is going to lead a dance-off.

It was amazing to witness. While all of their work was wildly different, the artists were all connected through their values. Getting a chance to be in community with four cohorts of Southern Artists for Social Change artists gave me so much courage and audacity, but also drove home the program’s importance, how amazing the artists NPN supports are, and why being in service to the field through NPN has been such a blessing for me at this moment in my life.

LeiSera Jacobs-Leamon and Jahni Moore lean over a table as they work together on a drawing on butcher paper. On the left, LeiSera is wearing a long red overcoat with long sleeves, with a black garment underneath. She has shoulder-length straight black hair held back with a black headband, and wears glasses. Her right hand is pressed on the table to support her, and she holds a red marker in her left hand as she looks at the drawing. On the right, Jahni holds a black pencil in his left hand and is drawing on the paper, and his right hand is pressed on the table to support him. He has long hair, partially gray hair that extends to his lower back, and it is pulled back away from his face and drapes over his shoulders to hang down in front of his shirt. He is wearing a long-sleeved, untucked black shirt patterned with small pink and white roses. To give him more freedom of movement while drawing, the cuff on his left sleeve is folded back to revealing a white inner lining.
From left: LeiSera Jacobs-Leamon and Jahni Moore (Cohort 3).

When I started in January, one of my first assignments was to pull together information for a press release. This project had me reviewing all of the application materials of the latest cohort, pouring over program descriptions, work samples, and previous cohort announcements.

While getting up to speed on the style guide and formatting of the boilerplate, I also got to learn about the incredibly rich and diverse type of work that this program has supported for three years.

It was inspiring to soak in all of these beautiful and powerful ideas. From Carey Fountain’s Black Cherry Tree Project with its way of honoring African Americans who have been lynched by planting Cherry Trees and sharing their stories and Jeri Hilt’s work, Bury ‘Em Deep: An Avalanche of Turquoise, on the repatriation and return of Ancestral human remains from cultural institutions, to Ausettua AmorAmenkum’s work in Sacred Wellness 360 which collaborates with formerly incarcerated women as they reenter their families and communities, all of the work was so deep, so important, so moving, and can’t be easily labeled.

Five Black women stand in a group laughing and talking. Starting from the left, the first woman, Keana Brewster, wears glasses and has short black hair, and she is wearing a leopard print long skirt and a black blouse. The second woman, Kerrigan Casey, has medium-length black hair pulled up on top of her head and wears glasses. She appears to be wearing a faded blue vest over a black shirt. The third woman has her back to the camera, but is identified as Stephanie Atkins. She has short reddish hair and is wearing a sleeveless black top and black pants. The fourth woman, Simone Immanuel, has long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and is wearing a black dress. The fifth woman, Jazz Franklin, has short spiky hair and wears glasses. She is wearing a loose fitting, untucked white long sleeved shirt.
From left: Keana Brewster, Kerrigan Casey (Cohort 3), Simone Immanuel (Cohort 4), and Jazz Franklin (Cohort 4).
A white man with a trimmed gray and black beard is shown in profile as he leans over a table and fills out a name badge. He is wearing a blue denim jacket and has a tight-fitting black knit cap.
Jebney Lewis (Cohort 4)
Greer Mendy, a Black woman, sits at a large conference table and speaks into a microphone she is holding in her left hand. She has short black hair and is wearing a light pink or peach, loose fitting blouse with sleeves. The table in front of her is cluttered with papers, writing utensils, cups and bottles.
Greer Mendy (Cohort 4)
Photograph of Carey Fountain, a Black man dreadlocks pulled back and wearing a greyish-green fuzzy knit cap. He is standing in three-quarter profile facing left, and holds a microphone in his right hand as he gestures with his right hand. He is wearing a light pink cotton hoodie with a decorative green and maroon pattern on the chest.
Carey Fountain (Cohort 3)

They aren’t projects that are meant to be commercially successful or play to a massive audience, but they have an enormous impact on the communities they serve.

There were water maps, zines on Sex Ed for TGNC folx in the Deep South, and mutual aid funds for Black LGBTQIA+ folx. There were mobile pirate radio stations, land-based initiatives for low-income farmers, and artistic residencies for young Queer BIPOC folx aiming to foster healthy intimacy for themselves & their communities.

And there was JOY. Joy in the rigor of the work. Joy in the communities each project serves. Joy in getting to meet each other and spark off of each other because, with these types of projects, there are no “closing nights.”

Photograph of Stephanie Atkins, a Black woman. She is standing and facing the camera and smiling as she speaks into a microphone that she holds in her right hand. Her left arm is folded behind her so that only the elbow is visible. She has short red hair and wears black glasses. She is wearing a short sleeved, loosely fitting white t-shirt.
Stephanie Atkins, Director of Southern Programs at NPN

Each project is deeply invested in trying to create transformational change which doesn’t happen overnight or even within a grant cycle. Each project seeks to serve as an instrument of civilization and can change someone’s life forever.

At the end of our time, we were brought together to close out with congregational singing. While I grew up going to Mass, this is one of the closest feelings I’ve ever gotten to going to church. And just as we were about to break, someone was inspired to remind us to honor the bounce tradition of New Orleans and we twerked our way through the circle to close.

It was a moment of pure joy and release through dance and song and it served as a reminder that we are not alone in this work, that we are all travelers on this journey towards collective liberation with our guiding stars being our Core Values which lead our way.

Head shot of Daniel Pruksarnukul.

Daniel Pruksarnukul is a Program Assistant for National Performance Network and Creative Producer for Mondo Bizarro.